Poisonous
by crazytomboy78
Summary: Whitney, out of anger and jealousy over Tony's relationship with Pepper, injects Pepper with the same poison that nearly killed Howard- except this time it's a thousand times more lethal. Tony has twenty-four hours to find a cure for his dying girlfiend or he'll lose her forever! Can he save Pepper before it's too late?
1. Injection

On a clear, starry night, in a dark room in New York City, Whitney Stane stood at her window, staring at the streets below as a couple her age passed by, holding hands. The boy, all too familiar to her, had dark brown hair, electric blue eyes and a wide smile on his face. The redheaded girl looked equally happy to be with the boy, as they were clearly dating.

Whitney squeezed the empty can of soda she had been holding until it bent severely inwards, crushed beyond repair.

"It's not fair. Why should she get to be with you? Why is she so important?" Whitney said aloud, to no one in particular. "She's not so special. I'm the ones you've been friends with since we were kids…I'm the one you should want to be with. Why should she get your heart? Why should she get anything good? She deserves to suffer!"

Whitney dropped the can to the floor and walked down to the lab located in the basement. She walked over to some sort of serum sitting in a needle, resting on a countertop. She recalled the serum she had injected Howard Stark with. This was the same thing, except stronger. _A lot stronger._

"Pepper Potts deserves nothing more than to suffer and die." She said, picking up the needle. "and I'm going to make sure that's what she gets."

And with that, she and her mask were gone.

~…~

It was just an ordinary day in the new and improved life of Pepper Potts- she'd spent a good portion of the day with her new boyfriend, Tony Stark, and it had been a great day. She had done some awesome superheroing in her new armor, and it was time to hit the hay. She had brushed her teeth, changed into pajamas, washed her face, and was crawling under her sheets, ready to tuck away for a nice, long night's sleep.

If she'd known what was lurking outside, however, she wouldn't have fallen asleep that night. Because once she did, Virgil came into her room quietly and carefully, and once he had come in and shut the door, he turned back to Madame Masque. Masque, with needle in hand, approached Pepper's bedside. Before she could get the chance to hesitate, she stuck the needle into Pepper's arm and pushed the syringe downwards. The poisonous fluid began flowing through her veins with her blood.

Upon initial injection, Pepper moaned in pain. Before she could wake up or move, the poison worked its magic and quieted her quickly. She laid there in her bed, not to wake up.

Whitney removed the needle from Pepper's arm and stuffed it back into her pocket. She turned back into Virgil. Before walking out, she looked down to the sleeping redhead and smiled, letting out an evil chuckle.

And just like that, she was gone.

~…~

Tony was tiredly shuffling himself up to his bedroom after having spent a few hours in the armory, repairing the War Machine armor from a recent battle, when suddenly his phone rang.

"Hello?" He answered.

"_Hello, Tony." _A female voice responded.

"What the…Whitney? I thought you were in SHIELD jail, how are you calling me?" Tony asked upon recognizing the voice immediately.

"_Let's just say I took care of those SHIELD losers. Besides, you shouldn't be concerned about where I am at a time like this." _

"A time like what? What's going on?" Tony asked worriedly.

"_Well, I've recently decided to exact my revenge on you. You not only ruin my life, but start dating a girl who is clearly not right for you, whom I hate and you know it…you remember the poison I injected your father with, don't you?" _Whitney responded, her voice sounding innocent yet creepy.

"Yes, why?"

"_I have injected your precious Pepper Potts with the same poison, except this time it is a thousand times more lethal. And now you have twenty-four hours to find the antidote, or she dies." _Whitney explained.

"You WHAT?" Tony yelled.

"_Relax! I've hidden the antidote where you'll never find it. Your stupid little girlfriend is as good as dead. In twenty-four hours the poison will have reached every square inch of her stupid body and will have stopped every organ from functioning. Rendering her dead. But I'm not completely heartless, I'll offer alternative choices: dump the stupid whore, and I'll give you the antidote myself. Or you could just find it…good luck with that." Whitney explained._

"I'll never dump her! Where is the antidote?" Tony demanded.

"_Aw, poor Tony, you think it's that easy…but if you insist, I'll give you one hint: you'll have to go through me to get the antidote. Good luck finding it. And if you need to find Pepper, you can find her resting soundly in her bed. Goodbye, Tony." _

Before Tony could respond, Whitney had hung up. Tony, frozen in shock for a moment, raced to Pepper's apartment, calling Rhodey on his way over. After knocking on the door and answering to Virgil (and explaining the dilemma to him), Tony raced up to Pepper's bedroom to see her sleeping in her bed, just like Whitney had said on the phone. He shook her to try and wake her, but she wouldn't budge.

"Come on, Pep, please wake up!" He begged. Tony hastily picked her up off her bed and rushed her to Stark International's state-of-the-art hospital room. Tony dialed Dr. Yinsen's number and explained the situation to him.

Within fifteen minutes, Dr. Yinsen had arrived and began his assessment of the girl immediately. Tony sat by her bedside, holding her hand until Rhodey arrived.

"Tony, what happened?" Rhodey asked upon arrival.

"It was Whitney, she's poisoned Pepper!" Tony explained.

"What?" Rhodey exclaimed.

"Rhodey, we have twenty-four hours to find the antidote or we lose her forever." Tony said. Rhodey saw in Tony's eyes just how scared he really was. He placed his hands on both of his friend's arms.

"Pepper's dad can stay here with Pepper. We need to find that antidote. Come on, we need the armors!" Rhodey said, hastily pulling Tony out of the room and towards the armory. Tony refused to go. When Rhodey looked back, he saw Tony looking back to Pepper, who was lying unconscious on the hospital bed.

"Tony, she's going to be okay." Rhodey assured him. Tony took a deep breath and quickly made his way to the armory.

"What clues did Whitney give us to find the antidote?" Rhodey asked.

"All she said was we'd have to go through her to get it. So it must be on her…but where is Whitney?" Tony explained.

"That's what we need to find out. Can you track her cell phone signal?" Rhodey asked. Tony dialed her number and waited. After a minute, a bleep and a prerecorded message played.

"She disconnected her phone…" Tony said quietly.

"Let's check her house first." Rhodey said, getting into the War Machine armor. Tony stood in the armory, looking down to the floor. Rhodey walked over to his forlorn friend and placed an armored hand on his shoulder.

"Tony, we'll find the antidote. We won't let her slip through our fingers." Rhodey assured him.

"But Rhodey…what if we don't? What if Pepper dies? I can't lose her, Rhodey…" Tony said. Before continuing, he lifted his head and looked into Rhodey's eyes.

"I can't live without her, Rhodey."

Rhodey looked into his friend's eyes and saw how deep his concern was written into them. He was truly scared of losing her.

"Tony, I promise, we won't let her go. We're going to search for that antidote, and if we can't find it, we're going to make our own. In fact, Dr. Yinsen is coming up with one as we speak. I promise, Tony, everything's going to be okay." Rhodey said sternly. Tony knew he was right, so he swallowed his fear and armored up. The two took to the skies, heading towards Whitney's house.

**Dun dun dunnnn! Uh oh, looks like Pepper's in trouble! What is Tony to do? More importantly, I just came up with another idea for a story! Yay for me! That hasn't happened in a while…XD but my wrist is starting to hurt, so I'm gonna stop writing for a while…review?**


	2. The Search Begins

Iron Man and War Machine arrived at a dark house on the edge of town. The mailbox next to the door read _Stane _on the side. They were at the right place. Luckily, Tony had spent a good deal of time at Whitney's house when they were younger, so he knew his way around and he knew where she would and wouldn't keep things.

"You search the left side of the house. I'll go right." Tony said. Rhodey did as told and went their separate ways to search the house. Tony searched the kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms on his side while Rhodey searched the living room and the bedrooms on his side.

Tony had found nothing in the kitchen and bathrooms so decided to search Whitney's bedroom. He didn't like snooping around in their stuff, but he needed to know where she was before it was too late. And he didn't even want to _think _about what would happen if it got to be too late.

Iron Man approached Whitney's bedroom and hesitated before opening it. The door squeaked open to reveal a dark, empty room. There was no sign that Whitney had been here recently. No sighs besides a note left on her vanity. Tony picked it up.

_Hello once again, Stark. I suppose you tried looking at my house for me…you really think I'm that predictable? Yeah right. I'm not here. But I will give you one clue to my location. It's the last place you'd look for me. If you think real hard you may just find me. Good luck, though._

Tony found Rhodey down the hall and showed him the note.

"She's not here." He explained.

"Where's the last place we'd look for her?" Rhodey asked. Tony shrugged.

"I don't know, it could be a lot of places. You'd be surprised how many places she's never been before in her life." Tony responded with an exasperated sigh. Rhodey could tell this was a lot for him to handle. He knew how much his friend loved the redhead. Heck, when she got her armor he was on edge for at least two weeks before he finally took a deep breath and relaxed. But he was still overprotective of her.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Rhodey asked.

"No, I'm not! I can't keep doing this when I know Pepper is 24 hours away from death! I need to know she's going to be okay, I need to know she's not going to die on me." Tony exclaimed. Rhodey placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, she won't be okay unless we find that antidote. That's hour best shot at saving her, and we need to keep going. We can't stop for a second or we'll lose valuable time. Whitney is just playing a game with us, Tony. We have no choice but to play along." Rhodey said. Tony sighed. He was silent for a moment as he looked down to the floor.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on, I know the next place we can search." Tony said sternly as he walked out of the house and took to the skies, headed towards Stark International. It was worth a try to look, considering Pepper was in the hospital room included in the Stark International building. It was a very unlikely place to hide out, so it could very well work.

~…~

In the Stark International hospital room, Pepper lay on the hospital bed as if she were sleeping. It had been a hectic series of events. He had just gotten out of the shower, and he was ready to climb into bed when there had been a frantic knock at the door. When he answered it, a very panicked Tony was standing there.

"Oh, hello Tony, Pepper is already in bed-" Virgil began, only to be ignored as Tony rushed past him and into Pepper's bedroom. Virgil quickly followed, sensing that something was wrong. When they got into the room, they saw Pepper sleeping in her bed.

"What's wrong? What's going on?" Virgil asked.

"Pepper's been poisoned, I'm rushing her to the Stark facilities hospital room!" Tony explained quickly as he scooped her up in his arms and rushed out of the apartment building. Tony laid Pepper down in the backseat of his car and he and Virgil got in the front seats and drove to Stark International. Tony made the call to Dr. Yinsen on the way over. He rushed her into the building and into the elevator. The hospital room was in the basement. When they got there, Pepper was laid out on the bed and Virgil sat beside her.

"Stay here while Rhodey and I look for the antidote." Tony demanded as Rhodey arrived and the two rushed out. Ever since he'd been sitting in the same room, talking with Dr. Yinsen about her condition.

"The antidote will be hard to recreate. Our best bet is for Tony to find the antidote that was already made." Yinsen explained.

"Who did this to her?" Virgil asked.

"I don't know. Tony called me and said she'd been poisoned, but that's all he said." Yinsen answered.

Suddenly, a mysterious female voice echoed through the room. The two couldn't trace its source, but it sounded like it was coming from some sort of speaker or cell phone or something.

"_Hello, Potts." _It began. _"I suppose you're wondering what has happened to your daughter. Well, she's going to die. In 24 hours. Unless her precious hero, Iron Man can find the antidote and save her. But I'll be keeping him busy for the next 24 hours on a wild goose chase, so you may as well say your goodbyes now. Iron Man can't come to the rescue this time." _The voice explained. Virgil couldn't recognize the voice, it was being disguised too well. The only thing he knew about it was that it was definitely female.

"Should we be helping Tony find the antidote?" Virgil asked.

"No, leave that to them. We need to stay here and keep working on an antidote." Yinsen explained. Virgil nodded and looked back to his forever slumbering daughter.

~…~

In a dark room somewhere in the city stood a dark figure, staring out a window down to the streets. Her arms were folded behind her back and a sneer was sitting on her face.

"Stupid Stark...he's taking my bait like a starving fish. He should have known that I don't care about him finding me. I'm not giving him that stupid antidote just because he's able to find me." She said to no one in particular.

"I'm just going to let him find me. Because when he does I'll make him mine again whether he likes it or not." She said with an evil chuckle. "He's going to forget all about his stupid girlfriend. She's as good as dead." As she cackled loudly, the antidote sat on the counter behind her.

"I've got him right where I want him…in the palm of my hands."

**Well, another chapter. I find that this story is going to be an interesting challenge. The whole story has to be set in the same 24 hours, and all my other stories are never set in the same 24 hours. They're usually spread out over a few weeks. Like, I just wrote this story for El Tigre set over a 9 month period (pregnancy story) and having just gotten out of that, this should be fun. But, before I bore everyone to death, review! **

**EDIT: Wow, I'm so dumb D: I left my notes in the beginning of the document and totally forgot they were there…I erased them, but still, just forget they were ever there…can anyone say fail? X3 Silly me, I'm so embarrassed! XP**


	3. The Search Continues

As Virgil sat in Pepper's Stark International hospital room, watching his daughter lay on the bed as if she were sleeping. Or, at least, he _wished _she was just sleeping…then they wouldn't be in this whole random mess.

To think that this whole mess was caused by…by some random girl he didn't even know, that had something against her just made Virgil angrier. He had no idea who the girl was that did this to his daughter, nor why. What reason could she possibly have to want Pepper gone?

Before he could let another thought pass through his mind, his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"_Is Pepper okay?" _ The caller asked. Virgil rolled his eyes. He had a hunch as to who it was before he had even answered the phone.

"She's the same as she was when you called five minutes ago, Tony." Virgil responded. Tony let out a sigh of relief.

"_Thanks. We'll update on our progress later." _Tony said before hanging up. Virgil put his phone back in his pocket and turned his attention back to his resting daughter. Tony had probably called at least a million times in the last forty minutes he'd been gone, but Virgil knew he couldn't blame the boy. The young hero really did care about her. And he couldn't disapprove of the boy either; on top of being a genius with a tremendously bright future, he was a superhero that would give his life to protect Pepper, or any of his friends. Or anyone in trouble, for that matter. He was that his daughter had someone as great as Tony to be with.

~…~

After Iron Man and War Machine had inspected the Stane home, they came to the Stark International building to check there for Whitney.

"How are we going to find her in an 80-plus-story building? We don't have the time to scan each and every floor." Rhodey asked.

"We don't. We use technology." Tony explained. "We scan the security footage in the last hour or two to see if my dad or I have entered any rooms in that amount of time. But I have a feeling that if she'd hide anywhere in the building, she'll be where she has the most defenses on her side…" Tony finished. The two found their way to the security room and began scanning the security footage. After a few minutes, Tony decided to search the basement.

"You keep scanning videos. I'm going to look around the Vault." Tony said as he found his way down to the basement. He opened the vault door and walked around. The room was silent and dark, and Tony didn't like it.

"I had a feeling you'd think I was here. That's why I dropped by to say hello…" A female voice suddenly echoed. Tony looked around him, yet saw no one in the room. He knew instantly that it was just the girl he was looking for.

"Where are you? Show yourself." Tony demanded as he walked around the room, trying to find her.

"Oh, you need not concern yourself with where I'm coming from, Stark. What you should be concerned about right now is saving your stupid little girlfriend." Whitney said.

"Just give me the antidote, Whitney, and this can all be over." Tony said sternly. Whitney chuckled, her laugh echoing through the room.

"You can't possibly be that stupid to think I'll just surrender to you. No, I want to watch you suffer the way I've suffered. You don't understand what I've been through. No. But you will…just you wait. You will." Whitney explained.

"Whitney, I understand more than you know. I know what it's like to feel alone, like you have no one left in the world to care about you. But I also know what it's like to realize that I'm wrong about being alone. Your dad may be in a coma, but he'll come back someday. You just have to stay positive. You used to have friends who cared about you, Whitney. But you abandoned them, you just left them. You hurt them. I used to be your friend, Whitney. And I still want to be your friend. I want to help you out of this…this power-crazy problem you have. All you have to do is let me." Tony said.

"NO! YOU'RE WRONG!" Whitney screamed, suddenly appearing from a dark corner of the room with a large laser cannon, aiming it at Iron Man. Tony took a step back.

"Whitney, please. This isn't you. But if you would just give me the antidote I could help get the real you back. You just have to trust me." Tony offered calmly.

"I'll never surrender to you! Why should I? You're no better than every villain you've faced! You don't deserve the antidote, and you'll never get it!" Whitney screamed. "You left me alone just like everyone else did. It's because of you that my father is in a coma and you never cared about me in the first place! It's almost like we never dated. Like we never had a chance. You just wanted to string me along to make me happy. But the truth was that it was never me, it was always _her_. You're just as cruel as any other villain." Whitney said, her arms shaking.

"What? Whitney, we did have our chance, and I'm sorry it didn't work out the way we wanted. But the real truth is that we weren't meant to be anyways. Can't you see that Pepper makes me happier than I've been in a very long time? Haven't you ever heard of the phrase 'if you love something, let it go'?" Tony responded. "Come on, Whitney, just let me be. Ever since Pepper and I started dating…I've been as happy as I was since when my mom was alive. My life feels…complete now. And without Pepper, I just know it won't."

Whitney stood frozen in her spot, still aiming the laser cannon at him. His words dug into her like a knife, digging out her heart and throwing it onto the ground. But in all the heartache, although she hated to admit it, she knew that the best thing to would be to let him go. But she couldn't; she simply couldn't. He deserved to suffer for the pain he'd put her through, and suffer he would.

_But Tony is my friend, he's trying to help me…_

_Some friend. He puts your father in a coma and probably doesn't even care about you. When you dumped him all he did was spend all day flirting with that stupid redhead. It's almost as if he never cared about you at all. He deserves to suffer and perish. _

Suddenly, in the silence that had settled between the two, Whitney dropped the laser cannon and ran. Before Tony could reach her, she was running out the door; she was gone.

"Hey, Tony, did you find anything in the Vault?" Rhodey asked via the armor comm. Systems.

"I found Whitney, but she got away. I didn't get the antidote from her. I'll explain when I get back to the security room." Tony explained, getting into the elevator and finding his way to the security room.

"So what happened?" Rhodey asked.

"Well, she was there when I got into the Vault. I tried to talk her out of all of this, but she just ended up running away. She had a laser cannon, but she never used it." Tony explained.

"That's weird." Rhodey responded.

"Yeah. It's almost as if she's between herself. Something is wrong, but I can't tell exactly what." Tony explained.

"Well, we can't waste time thinking about it, we need to keep looking for her." Rhodey said.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go." Tony responded. The two exited the building.

"Where do we search next?" Rhodey asked as they hovered above the city skyline.

"I-I don't know, I'm out of ideas…let's just start searching places Whitney has been to a lot…the school maybe?" Tony responded. So the two headed towards the Tomorrow Academy.

**Aha, another chapter! I think this story is going well so far. I'm having fun writing it :3 but anyways, review?**


	4. Ideas

In a dark basement somewhere on the edge of the city stood Whitney, pacing the floor. Though she hadn't shown it so far, inside her mind a war had been waged. A war between the real Whitney- a Whitney who wished never to hurt a fly, no matter how much she hated it- and a Whitney that vowed revenge on anyone who crossed her. And the reason it had started was because she was trying (and failing) to protect Tony from herself. The real Whitney didn't want to hurt Tony- no matter how upset with him she was for dating Pepper. No matter how angry she was that Tony had chosen to date a girl that was so not right for him, she knew it wasn't right to hurt either of them.

Unfortunately for her, masked Whitney would stop at nothing to get her revenge on those who had crossed her. Tony had broken her heart and he didn't even seem to care, so he deserved to perish. That's all there was to it. Both he and Pepper deserved to suffer, so suffer they would.

_But he's still my friend…I don't want to hurt him!_

_Don't you want to make him feel exactly how he made you feel? Don't you want to make him suffer for how he's treated you? He's no better than the villains he fights. He deserves no better than them. _

_But just because he hurt me doesn't mean he deserves to suffer…he had his reasons…_

_What reasons? He has no reasons at all. He ditched every date you planned and didn't even try to make up for it. He has no excuse, he is just an inconsiderate jerk. _

_But he was busy being Iron Man…and he hasn't had much experience with women either. I don't want to hurt him._

_What you want is unimportant, it is I who is in charge. And I say Tony Stark will suffer, so suffer he will. You have no choice but to watch._

~…~

Tony and Rhodey arrived at the school and immediately began searching the building. It had been a little over an hour since Pepper was first poisoned, and Tony was getting nervous. As each hour passed, Pepper got that much closer to death. With each passing hour she would get sicker and sicker, and her chances of survival would shrink. The sooner they got the antidote, the better. The sooner she was cured, the less time she'd need to recover to full health.

Tony searched each nook and cranny, nervously moving to the next crevice. Rhodey noticed how antsy his friend was and knew why. He couldn't blame the kid for being so nervous; his girlfriend was about 23 hours away from death, and her life was in their hands. And Tony really did care about her. Rhodey knew the young genius wouldn't last a second without her by his side. He was more in love with the girl than Rhodey ever knew was possible. He knew that even if he asked his friend in the most polite of ways to calm down a bit, it would only enrage the boy. He was very nervous and upset right now, and suggesting he calm down would only make him angry. It would only make him yell. Rhodey knew his friend, and he knew when the right time was to say things.

"Come on, Whitney, where are you?" Tony muttered as he searched the school frantically.

"Come on, antidote…come on…" He muttered desperately. He knew it had only been an hour, and he still had 23 left, but he still couldn't help but feel like he would never find Whitney, much less the antidote. So far, no matter where they searched, she hadn't turned up. Sure, she turned up in the Vault, but nothing good had come from that visit. The only thing from that visit was the realization that something was seriously wrong with Whitney.

Tony froze suddenly and turned to find Rhodey.

"Rhodey, I think I may have an idea." Tony said via the armor comm. Systems, after realizing Rhodey must be on the other side of the school searching.

"What would that be?" Rhodey asked.

"When I was in the vault I noticed something odd about Whitney…she seemed to be fighting something. Something that must be controlling her somehow…" Tony began. "and I bet it's that mask. Ever since she first put it on she hasn't been the same. I think maybe the mask's power is controlling her somehow. If we can find her and appeal to that then maybe we can get the antidote back without hurting her." Tony explained.

"Well the only problem with that is finding her. We've been doing that for an hour and it hasn't worked." Rhodey responded.

"I have a plan for that too. I'm done standing around looking for her. I'm going to try tracing the mask's energy signature like I did last time."

"Why didn't you do that an hour ago and save us all this trouble?" Rhodey asked.

"I might have been in such a panic that I forgot I can do that…" Tony admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Tony began the tracking process on his HUD, only to be stopped a few minutes later with an 'error' message.

"Wait, what? That's impossible. She can't possibly have figured out a way to fix the tracking error. She must be in some energy containment building or something…but there's only one place like that in the whole town. And I know she's still in the city." Tony explained.

"Where would that be?" Rhodey asked.

"There's a building by the pier that Stark International used to use for dangerous energy-related projects. I didn't even think she'd know to hide there." Tony explained.

"So we should check there…where is it, exactly?" Rhodey asked.

"It's on the level below the Stark International storage garage. No one's used it since the plane crash." Tony explained.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Rhodey exclaimed, finding Tony and heading towards the garage.

**Okay, so I know that this chapter is ungodly short, but trust me, I have some grand ideas for this story…grand ideas indeed…*chuckles deviously***

**Haha no don't worry they're epic. Plus I think you all know what I say about the right time to end things…and all that…hey, I'm pretty sure I've said it a million times. "I've said what I need to say and this was the right time to end the chapter." And all that good stuff X3 **

**Lol but anyways review :3**


	5. Finding Whitney

Tony and Rhodey arrived at the basement to the Stark International garage a few minutes later. They began searching the room for Whitney.

Whitney, having heard the two come in, was hiding in a dark corner where she figured she wouldn't be seen, so she could find her laser cannon. Once found, Whitney slowly emerged from her hiding spot.

"Hello once again, Tony." She said menacingly. Tony quickly turned to face her.

"Look, Whitney, I don't want to fight you. I just want the antidote. I don't want to get rough at all." Tony said calmly.

"Too bad for you, then, Stark!" Whitney said angrily, aiming her laser cannon at him. Tony put his hands in the air in defense.

"Please, Whitney, it doesn't have to be this way. If you're upset we can just talk it out." Tony suggested.

"Oh please, what could you possibly say to calm me down? You don't even care. All you care about is saving your precious girlfriend." Whitney spat angrily.

"Okay, sure, I'm mostly concerned about saving my girlfriend, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you, Whitney. I'm really concerned about you. I just want the old Whitney back, but that mask of yours is hiding her away." Tony explained calmly. Whitney growled.

"LIES! You don't care and you never did! Ever since you met that stupid redhead you've just been stringing me along on one big LIE! Stop trying to convince me that you care!" Whitney exclaimed.

"Whitney, you're being ridiculous. Of course I care about you; you used to be one of my best friends. Until you put on that mask…don't you realize the mask has changed you from the minute you put it on? If you would just let me help you, I could get you back to normal. It may take a long time, but eventually I can get you there." Tony insisted.

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Whitney exclaimed, yelling even louder this time than the last. As she yelled, she pulled the trigger on her laser cannon- which was bigger and more powerful than when she had used it last- and shot a blast at Iron Man, and another at War Machine. The shot, packed with a lot of electricity and power, managed to knock the two out cold. Whitney cackled evilly as she pulled a lever sitting on a counter beside her, which gave way to a wurtzite boron nitride cage that fell around the two armored men. It was a material harder than diamonds- a material Whitney assumed Iron Man (nor War Machine) would not be able to break free from. But, a small fact she had overlooked was the fact that you should never assume anything.

But breaking free wasn't the main problem right now- waking up was a bit more important.

~…~

Over at the Stark household, Howard was sitting in the living room, reading the newspaper when a thought popped into his head. He looked to his wristwatch to check the time and realized it was getting late.

"Where's Tony?" He asked himself aloud. He grabbed the house phone sitting next to him and dialed Tony's cell. After getting no answer, he figured something was wrong. He knew his son always picked up the phone, no matter what was happening. Howard quickly dialed Rhodey's cell (he had the number for emergencies such as this one). However, Rhodey had no answer either. Howard decided to call Roberta to see if she knew.

"_Hello?" _ She answered.

"Roberta, do you know where Tony is?" She asked.

"_No, I haven't seen him since this afternoon. Do you think he's out in the armor?" _ She answered.

"I called him, but he didn't pick up. Even if he is doing a little super heroing, he would pick up. Unless somehow he's been knocked out."

"_Maybe you should check Tony's lab." _Roberta suggested. Howard thanked her for her help and headed over to the armory to see if there was anything there regarding Tony's whereabouts.

Once he got there, he checked the systems chair's onboard computer for any footage that the armor had recorded.

What he watched was alarming. He listened to the explained plot of someone who used to be a friend. Howard was taken aback at the fact that Whitney had lost control of herself and the mask's powers so quickly. He listened to her explain that Pepper was in danger of death. He learned about the whole situation, and once he knew the details, immediately headed over to Stark International to check on the current situation of Tony's girlfriend.

Over at Stark International, Virgil and Yinsen were talking about making their own antidote to save Tony and Rhodey the heroing when Howard walked in.

Pepper's mother had arrived at the Stark International hospital room not too long ago, after getting the call from Virgil that their daughter was in danger of death. She had arrived as quickly as she could (she had gotten the call from work, as she works late nights often), as well as getting past the guards at the front door to the building. (Try explaining your dying daughter being inside the building to two guards when they were unaware that the girl inside was Tony Stark's girlfriend…or that there was a dying girl inside a technology-manufacturing business).

"Howard, how did you-" Virgil asked as he stood from his seat, only to be interrupted by Howard.

"I know exactly what's going on here, and I may be able to help with the antidote." Howard explained quickly, immediately explaining everything he'd learned about the poison from his experience with it.

~…~

Whitney chuckled as she watched the two out-cold armored heroes in her unbreakable cage. As she once again assumed, the two would be out cold long enough for Pepper to die, and there was no one else in the world that would be able to recreate the antidote.

So why didn't she just smash the antidote and crush all of Tony's chances of saving his girlfriend?

_Because we shouldn't be killing people, no matter how much they've ruined your life. It's wrong and it can get us arrested._

_But she deserves to die! She has wronged us and has managed to ruin your life in one fellow swoop. She took away the only person who ever really used to care about you. Don't you want to kill her for that?_

_Well, yes, I hate her for that, but it's no reason to go killing her off. Tony clearly cares about her, and she's clearly important to him. So she should live. No matter how much it kills me inside._

_You are pathetic and weak. _

_Don't you realize that if we let Pepper die Tony will never be happy again? He won't be the Tony we want. He'd never be the same. Is that what you want? An empty shell of a Tony we once knew?_

_I don't care, I want her dead._

_Alright, think of it this way. If we don't smash the antidote and let Tony get it after it's too late to save Pepper, it will crush him even more. Even better for your revenge scheme, right?_

…_fine. You win this time. But don't think you'll be able to win me over again in the future. _

**So yeah, funny story, I had totally forgotten about Howard until this chapter…I guess I'm just so darn used to him being 'dead' that I forgot to include him in the story…oops *blushies* not to mention I forgot Pepper's mother as well…O.o X3 well anyways, review! (Hey, at least this chapter was a bit longer than the last one. XD )**


	6. Things Get Intense

About 12 hours later, Tony rose tiredly, unaware of how long the two had been out. He checked the time on his HUD and immediately looked over to his side to see Rhodey had just awoken as well.

"Rhodey, we gotta get out of here. We only have a little less than 10 hours left to find Whitney!" Tony exclaimed. Getting very panicked, and not realizing they were in a very strong cage, when Tony stood up and tried running out of the garage basement, he ran into the cage's bars and fell back down on his bottom. Rubbing his head in confusion, he studied his surroundings.

"What the….? How did we get in this cage?" Tony asked.

"Whitney probably dropped it on us after she knocked us out." Rhodey explained. They both knew very well that being placed in a cage set them back _a lot._ They now not only needed to find where Whitney had scampered off to and get her to surrender the antidote and give it to Pepper, but they now needed to break free from this cage. And they needed to figure out how they'd go about doing that.

"Uh oh…" Tony muttered.

"What? What's uh-oh?" Rhodey asked, worried.

"This cage was made from wurtzite boron nitride." Tony explained.

"Okay, this time so I know why that's an uh-oh." Rhodey responded.

"It's a metal. It's supposed to be stronger than diamonds. I…I don't know how we're going to get out of it." Tony explained further, his tone saddening as he spoke. Rhodey knew that was not good. He knew that Tony would get even more worried and nervous than he had been for the two hours they'd spent searching for Whitney and the antidote, and he'd get so anxious that he wouldn't be able to think straight, and he'd start trying to fight a mental breakdown. He knew Tony needed to be calmed down, immediately.

"Tony, don't freak out. The last thing we need right now is for you to freak out. Right now, I need you to take a deep breath, sit down and think of a way to break free from this cage so we can track down Whitney using the mask. We have 9 and a half hours to do this, so we need to MOVE. Got it?" Rhodey said, grabbing Tony's shoulders as he spoke. Tony did as he was told and took a deep breath. He pushed all this thoughts about his dying girlfriend to the back of his mind and thought solely about wurtzite boron nitride and its weaknesses.

Only a few minutes had passed before Tony remembered something his father had said about the metal once. He remembered Howard talking about it when it had first been discovered, and plucked the very piece of information about it that would help them break free from the cage.

"I've got it!" Tony exclaimed, jumping up from his seat on the ground excitedly.

"What?" Rhodey asked.

"Wurtzite boron nitride is only 18% stronger than diamonds. At the right intensity, maybe your repulsors can break it." Tony explained. "I'd do it myself, but your repulsors are a lot more powerful than mine. It'd work better at a high intensity in your armor."

Rhodey nodded in understanding and aimed his gauntlets at the cage's bars, preparing to fire the repulsors.

"Alright, just fire them at the highest intensity possible until they break." Tony directed. He stood beside Rhodey as he told him to begin. Rhodey fired both repulsors at the cage bars, continuing the stream for several minutes, increasing their intensity slowly until it reached its peak. After several more minutes, the bars had melted down and bent outwards until the bars left a hole wide enough for Iron Man to fit through. He picked up the cage to let War Machine out of it, dropping it as soon as possible as it was very heavy.

"How did she get access to that metal? Isn't it like, super rare?" Rhodey asked.

"Yeah, it is. Stark International has managed to synthesize it in our labs a while back, and she probably got enough of it from there." Tony explained.

"Well, where did she go this time?" Rhodey asked.

"I don't know. But luckily for us we're in the only building that can hide an extremely traceable energy like the one the mask gives off, so it shouldn't be too hard to find her." Tony explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's find her!" Rhodey said.

"A step ahead of you, dude." Tony responded. He had already begun tracking Whitney's mask.

"She's…she's only upstairs." Tony explained calmly, very confused. Given her recent history of hiding places, he thought she'd have been far off by now.

The two made their way upstairs and searched the garage, finding Whitney in a matter of minutes.

"Whitney!" Tony exclaimed once he found her. Whitney turned quickly on her heels to face Iron Man.

"What? How did you break out of my cage? It's stronger than diamonds!" Whitney exclaimed angrily.

"Whitney, you're forgetting you're facing a genius. A genius that helped synthesize the metal you used when my father discovered it and decided to experiment with it." Tony explained.

"Well it doesn't matter anyways, because you're not getting this antidote from me!" Whitney exclaimed, holding it above her head, ready to drop it. The only thing holding her back from releasing her tight grip on the needle, of course, was her self-conflict issues.

"Wait, Whitney, don't drop that needle! Please…" Tony pleaded, nervous and worried.

"Why should I? Why do you think you deserve this antidote? You don't deserve this, you don't deserve Pepper, and you don't even deserve to live anymore! All I ever wanted from you was companionship. All I ever asked of you was to give me what no one else in my life has ever given me. But you can't even do that. _She _has been in the way of that since you first met her, and ever since that day you've only seen her. I slowly stopped existing in that little world of yours." Whitney said angrily.

"Whitney, that's crazy. Of course I know you exist. I care about you, as a friend. And I was hoping it could stay that way, but obviously you've been exposed to the mask for far too long now. You need serious medical attention. If you surrender now, I can provide that for you."

"Oh, you're so stupid. Remember that day, back almost two years ago? My dad's guards caught you snooping around in Stark International and I had managed to make myself look like a total idiot to my father just to help you get out of there without being arrested. How do you repay me? By completely ignoring me. We hadn't seen each other since before your plane accident, and you treat me like a chip on your shoulder. You've never cared about me, admit it." Whitney explained.

"Come on, Whitney, I was trying to get my armor back. It was in the Vault and I was trying to get it without exposing my secret identity or getting caught by the guards. I had a lot going on, I didn't have the time to catch up on things between us. If I'd had the time, believe me, I would've tried to rekindle our friendship." Tony explained.

"Lies! All lies! All you've told me is one huge lie! Just stop pretending to care, I'm so sick of it! You're trying to convince me that you care just so you can tear out my heart and squish it into the ground, again. But I WON'T LET YOU!" Whitney exclaimed as she pulled out her large laser cannon once again and fired it at the two armored heroes. The two, having learned from their previous encounter with the laser cannon, managed to dodge its fire just in time. In response, War Machine fired the rockets from his shoulder launcher as Iron Man fired his repulsors. The three dived into a raging battle.

Tony was sick of fighting Whitney. He was sick of her thinking he had betrayed her and that he didn't care about her, because the truth was that she was a very close friend to him and before she had decided to start using the mask to exact her revenge on those who had crossed her (primarily her father and Tony), and he just wanted the old Whitney back. He was sick of her objective being that she wanted him all to herself, sick of knowing that this was all a result of jealousy. He was sick of everything. So he knew that the only way to make it all stop was to get the mask off of Whitney and to destroy it. Once it was destroyed, Whitney would be freed from its control over her.

Whitney, by this point, was so angry with Tony that she just wanted to make him pay. She wanted to make him feel the way he had made her feel, and most of all, she wanted him dead. She wanted all the pain and memories to go away, and she wanted the pain of the past to be buried with him. But her world was so clouded by the mask's effect on her that she didn't realize the mistake she was trying to make.

Rhodey just wanted to get the antidote off of Whitney. (Not that Tony didn't; the two just had different ways of going about doing that.)

As a result, the three were engaged in an all-out battle, each fueled by their own powerful motive and determination.

**Wow, what a lame spot to end this chapter :P Sorry if this chapter is kinda lame, which it's probably not because I'm probably just super paranoid…But we are reaching the end, so that's…well, okay, it's not exactly 'good'…specifically because after this story ends I'll have like no ideas…-.- I'll think of something sometime in the future…maybe…but anyways, onto writing chapter seven! Review?**


	7. Reaching the End

The battle between Iron Man, War Machine and Madame Masque had managed to broil until it had spilled over the breaking point; at which point things had managed to cool down. Tony, breathing heavily, looked disappointedly to Whitney.

"Why are you doing this, Whitney? Why are you killing her?" Tony begged.

"Because she doesn't deserve you, and you don't deserve her! It's not fair, she's not so special! What ever happened to us?" Whitney yelled.

"You wouldn't let us work! Yeah, I kept ditching our dates to be Iron Man in secret but if you wanted to be with me so badly you would've stayed with me! Can't you see we wouldn't have worked? Whitney, you were always like a sister to me. I dated you because I wanted to give us a try. But once I did I realized we're not right for each other. I've let you go, Whitney, can't you just let me go too?" Tony said.

"No, you're wrong! We can work, just give me a chance!" Whitney exclaimed. "Just forget about all this and we can have another chance! All you have to do is dump your stupid girlfriend and let the poison finish her off!"

"Whitney, can't you see I love her? I can't just let her go like that. I need her. I need her like plants need water. I need her more than you'd be able to understand, and I'm not going to waste valuable time trying to explain it to you. If I let her go now just to be with you, I'd never be happy again. I know it's hard for you to accept, but Pepper has brightened some of my darkest days and has completed me in a way no one has done before. She's way too important to me for me to just drop her for someone else. And furthermore, as a superhero, I can't just let someone die." Tony explained. "If you ever love someone like I love her, you'll understand."

Whitney stood in silence. She absorbed Tony's words like a sponge. Unlike the previous times he'd tried to explain this to her, this speech actually stuck. He had managed to say in in just such a way that made both the evil and the good Whitney stop to think about it. His words hurt, like a dagger through her heart. She'd never thought Tony would care so deeply for someone else before. Why couldn't he care that deeply about her? Why was Pepper so special?

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FORGET ABOUT HER!?" Whitney exclaimed, pointing her laser gun at him. She refused to go soft on him and give up just because he had made some sorry, sappy, pathetic speech.

"WHITNEY, JUST STOP! Can't you see what that mask has done to you? Can't you see that every time you wear it you lose control? You try to destroy the people closest to you, the people who are trying to help you! You've lost control three times now, and this time I'm not as willing to help you! By now, I just want you somewhere where you'll never be able to hurt anyone ever again…Whitney, you've hurt the person I care about the most. Did you really expect me to come crawling back to you?" Tony exclaimed, calming down. His words sunk in and struck her core. Her whole body froze, and her weapon dropped to the ground. Whitney dropped to her knees and began wildly sobbing, stuffing her face in her hands. Memories dating as far back as first meeting the bubbly redhead flooded into her mind. Memories that made her realize just how cruel she had been to the poor girl, and how much she didn't deserve it. But that wasn't even the worst part. The real icing on the cake came when memories from after putting on the mask came.

_What have I done?_

"I'm a monster!" She exclaimed. In a matter of minutes SHIELD agents were flooding into the abandoned building, courtesy of a call from War Machine as Tony was talking to her, and removing her mask and handcuffing her.

"Mr. Stark, would you like to take care of the mask?" Fury asked.

"Yeah. I know the perfect thing to do with it." Tony said, dropping the mask to the ground and stepping on it. The mask shattered into pieces, which Tony picked up. He'd dispose of them in his lab.

"And I suppose you'd like this antidote." An agent said, approaching Iron Man. Tony took it, thanking the agent as he rushed back to Stark International to get the antidote to Pepper.

~…~

A half an hour later, after the antidote had flowed through Pepper's system and taken down the poisonous substances, Pepper's eyes fluttered open ever so gently. She awoke to Tony, Rhodey, Howard and her parents gathered around her bedside. Rhodey was standing a little behind Tony, and Tony was sitting right beside her, holding her hand and squeezing it tight. Her parents were on the other side of her bed, waiting with hopeful smiles on their faces.

Once they saw her sit up, Tony heaved a giant sigh of relief as he quickly wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. Pepper smiled as she returned his hug.

"T-Tony…what happened? The last thing I remember is getting home after spending the day with you, a-and then nothing…" Pepper asked tiredly.

"Whitney poisoned you the same way she did my dad, except this time more powerful…but she's in an extremely heavily guarded SHIELD prison cell now. She won't be hurting anyone anymore." Tony explained. He looked deep into her eyes, glad to see them opened and sparkling again, like normal.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you're okay…" Tony said exasperatedly. Pepper smiled and patted his shoulder. She turned to her parents and talked to them before Yinsen assessed her overall health and concluded she was safe to go home, but she should take it easy for the next few days; meaning no Rescue for a while. And Tony would be sure to enforce that.

Rhodey and Virgil decided to go on their way and leave Tony and Pepper alone, as Tony had probably been through too much to bear in the past twenty-four hours and probably only wanted to be alone with her for a bit. Besides, Virgil could see his daughter when they got home, and Rhodey knew Tony should get home after walking Pepper home so he could get some sleep himself; he'd been through a lot in the past sixteen hours. Howard went home to make sure Tony got home to get some rest, and Pepper's mother returned to her apartment in the city. She'd catch up with her daughter in the morning. Right now, she needed to get back to bed so she could get up for work the next morning. (Yinsen, after being thanked graciously by Tony and Howard, took all the information about the poison and its antidote that he had gathered from the experience to a locked filing cabinet in his home office where it'd be safe; after which he'd get some rest himself.)

In the meantime, Tony and Pepper walked home slowly, holding hands.

"So how much did you miss me?" Pepper asked, playfully poking his nose. Tony smiled.

"Pep you have no idea how crazy I was just driven today." Tony answered with a chuckle. Suddenly he stopped walking and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Pepper, in the past twenty-four hours I imagined my life without you in it, and that's not something I want to imagine ever again…" Tony said, pausing briefly. "Promise me you'll never leave my side, no matter what happens to us?" He asked. Pepper could see the sadness lingering in his eyes. She noticed the bags under his eyes and could tell he'd relentlessly tried to save her. She even saw signs of tears shed lingering on his cheeks. She placed her free hand on his cheek and squeezed his hand tight.

"Tony, I would never dream of leaving you." She said simply. Tony smiled and placed his hands on her cheeks, then proceeding to pull her in for a long, passionate and caring kiss. Upon separating, the two continued their walk.

"That's good, because this day made me realize that I really wouldn't survive a day without you." Tony said as they continued their walk to the Potts' apartment.

"Oh, I knew that." Pepper said teasingly with a chuckle. Tony smiled and shoved her gently, causing Pepper to shove him back, and so forth.

"So, what exactly has happened since I've been out?" Pepper asked as their playfulness died down.

"Rhodey and I have been on a wild goose chase looking for Whitney for the past sixteen hours so we could save you. That's what happened in a nutshell…" Tony explained. He proceeded to explain the last sixteen hours in more detail to her.

"So, if she's had the antidote all along, why didn't she just smash it and get it over with?" Pepper asked.

"I don't know. The mask has been changing her ever since she first put it on, and I think it's been controlling her. Manipulating her into being evil like she has been. I've picked up on the hints, too. I could see her fighting it, trying to break free of the mask's influence. I don't think she ever actually wanted to hurt you." Tony explained.

"Well do you think she's going to be okay now that the mask is destroyed?" Pepper asked.

"I hope so…it'll take a long time, but someday she'll be back to the Whitney I used to know. Someday her life will finally be looking up." Tony explained, wrapping his arm around Pepper's shoulders and pulling her close to him as they continued their walk to the Potts apartment. Maybe it wasn't for Whitney, but right about now, life was finally back to normal; and boy, was life good.

**What's this? Two chapters in one night? :O gee, I've never done that before! But there we have it! The end! Kinda sad, because this is like, the only thing I've been doing for IM:AA for a while…I dunno. Maybe more ideas will come in the future…we'll see what happens. I can say one thing for certain, and that's the fact that I'm really not going to force myself to come up with any ideas. If it comes to me, it comes to me. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Good stories take patience…**

**Hey, you can always check out the stories I write for other shows…maybe…depending on if you know said shows or not…I dunno. I know I've got two one-shots on the way for two different shows, so if you know of Wordgirl or Penguins of Madagascar (and are a fan of Skilene) keep a lookout! XD **

**Anyways, enough with my sappy weirdness…review!**


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